[Milliways]: The Five
The Cabal get closer every day, it seems, and that last encounter was too close of an escape, even for Nikola. It’s time to put an end to this.
He’s close, so very close he can almost taste it. His mini-mes are fast, strong, vicious, and perfectly loyal.
But they are…well…imbeciles.
They can’t think for themselves, and as long as that remains the case, they are of nearly no use to him. He can’t leave them on their own, can’t trust them in a situation he can’t completely predict. He needs something. He needs to do something before he finds himself at the mercy of the Cabal. He needs help.
***
He went to Druitt first. Of all the remaining members of The Five, he was the most likely to help, the mostly likely to see that Nikola’s plan was their best hope for getting rid of the Cabal once and for all, making the world safe for Abnormals of all kinds, creating peace.
They’d never gotten along. Not really. Nikola had been…well, jealous, really, of John’s relationship with Helen, and once they’d altered themselves, well, Nikola had medication to help him, but John had never discovered how to control the rage brought on by using his abilities.
Nikola found him broken, dying, from Helen’s hand no less (and isn’t vengeance sweet?), and he’d brought him back, helped him, let him regain his strength.
Once he’d refused to help Nikola though…
Electro-shock therapy is highly effective for sorting out all sorts of behavioral issues, even those as severe as Jack the Ripper’s
And now Nikola knows. It isn’t just help he needs, and it’s finally time to come out of the woodwork.
He needs Helen.
***
It’s a simple matter to find her, of course. He’s been keeping an eye on her movements for decades. He doesn’t want to just march up to her front door though.
For one thing, he needs to speak with her alone, somewhere she’ll be influenced by no one but him.
For another…well, it would really be unfortunate to bring a troop of Cabal agents to one of her sanctuaries. And it would seriously weaken his ability to bring her around on this issue.
No, best to put her somewhere she can see his work in action, see what he’s accomplished, see how close he is to creating a new world.
He’s certain once she sees what he’s accomplished she’ll agree to help, to stand by him as she always should have.
She’ll see this is where she belongs.
***
He saw her enter the building, watched her walk down the corridor to the room where she will give her lecture, and with that first glimpse….
There have been very few times in his life when Nikola has had reason to doubt his photographic memory. Nearly all of those times were related to his memories of Helen. She could not possibly be as beautiful as he remembers her. He must be seeing her through the light of nostalgia. No woman is that beautiful, that perfect.
He was right to doubt. She isn’t that beautiful. She’s more.
***
“…well below life-sustaining levels for days at a time.”
He has the note in his hand as he steps into the room, ready to give it to the attendant with some whispered words of urgency, enough to get him to deliver it to Helen in the middle of her lecture. The team that’s following him is too close, and if Helen doesn’t take him at his word and come with him, his entire plan will fall apart.
She pauses for a moment when she sees him, and he can’t help smirking.
“Uh…such examples of this simple genetic mutation are part of a larger scale trend we’re seeing worldwide.”
He’s missed her voice. Dull as her lectures generally are, he has missed that much.
“More experiences of extraordinary genetic abilities are cropping up at an ever increasing rate.”
The attendant hands her the note, and Nikola smiles from the back of the room as he watches her read it. It’s simple, to the point, and he can only hope she takes it seriously.
You will be killed in less than three minutes. Meet me now.
-Tesla
PS. You look hot.
He doesn’t stay to see if she believes him. Whether she follows or not, he has to be on his way. Nevertheless, he does smile to himself when he hears the door open behind him and the echoing clack of her heels on the marble floor.
“Helen Magnus,” he says once she’s standing in front of him, and it feels so good to be talking face to face again. “Kiss me, and I’ll save your life.”
She’s visibly taken aback at his request. “And if I don’t?”
He makes a dismissive noise and shakes his head. “It’s been over sixty years, just plant one on me already.” He offers her his cheek.
She’s clearly amused in spite of herself, and as she leans in to kiss him, he turns his face so her lips meet his.
He’d hardly be Tesla if he didn’t.
She’s surprised, but she doesn’t fight it, just grips his arm for balance when he tugs her forward a bit.
“Nikola Tesla,” she says before letting her hands slide down his arms. (And that feels so good as well, hearing his name from those lips.) “You always did know how to get attention.”
“And you’re still boring as ever when it comes to giving a lecture.” He takes her elbow to steer her down the corridor. They don’t have much time. “But to business. Cabal agents are all over the building. If we don’t leave now, things are going to get…rather bullet-ridden.”
“And why should I believe you?” She stops at the corner, stubborn woman. It’s simultaneously frustrating and appealing.
But Nikola is saved from having to answer by the arrival of said agents right outside the room where she had been lecturing.
Idiots that they are, they don’t check the corridor before entering the room.
Helen immediately (calmly, and that’s why he loves her) heads around the corner. “I assume you have a plan. Other than kissing me.”
“Genius, remember?”
***
The catacombs had been too good to resist. Helen loved old things, things with history. And it was the perfect maze to get lost in for hours.
It also gave them a head start on the Cabal agents and a decent chance to outrun them.
“Beauty before brains,” he says, once he’s opened the door for her.
“Charming.”
“I know.” Smugness is second nature to him. “Part of a two hundred-year old system of catacombs underneath the city.”
“I’m assuming there are other exits further on.” Always practical, Helen.
“Should be,” he confirms, striding down the row. “My contact said there would be.”
“Contact?”
“Mmhm. Concierge at my hotel.” He grins. “Don’t you love Rome?”
The pounding at the door behind them makes Nikola walk just a touch faster.
***
A quick jog takes them to cover behind a stone structure currently housing the remains of several unfortunate Romans.
“Well, they’re really pissed at you,” Nikola says with an amused smile. “What did you do?”
Technically, he hasn’t lied to her yet. Hasn’t actually said, ‘They’re after you,’ or even, ‘They’re not after me.’
It’s a technicality he holds onto quite tenaciously.
“Stole three witches from a crypt in Scotland,” Helen answers, slightly out of breath.
He shakes his head. “Stealing, you, I’m appalled.”
“Shut up, and help me,” she answers, cocking her pistol and holding it up like some sort of bizarre twist on Charlie’s Angels.
And he really can’t help himself, leaning in close and whispering, “My god, you look sexy with a gun.”
And she does. All dark and dangerous. It’s a very good look for her.
For her part, Helen ignores him and cold-cocks the first Cabal agent to come around the corner. The second one gives her a little trouble, and before Nikola can even think about it, he’s changed, a lightning-quick hand coming up hard, wrapping around his throat, lifting him up, pinning him to the wall.
“Leave. Her. Alone,” he growls, his voice deep and dangerous, and just as he’s about to slash the man’s throat with the razor-sharp fingernails on his other hand, Helen’s voice comes through his haze of rage.
“Nikola, that’s enough!”
It’s too late, of course. The man is already dead, his throat crushed, but Nikola allows the rage to subside and drops the man to the ground, smiling calmly at Helen as he pulls out his handkerchief to wipe his fingers clean.
“Well. That was exciting, huh?”
“A little too much so,” Helen replies, her gun now trained on his chest. “You haven’t stopped taking your medication, have you?”
“No, no.” That had been a mistake, the one time he had tried stopping. He needed his mind clear. “I just…I just got a little excited.” He glances down at her gun, still smiling. “C’mon, Helen, I don’t feed on humans. I made that vow long ago, and I intend to keep it.”
She doesn’t quite believe him, doesn’t quite trust him, he can tell, but she lowers the weapon anyway.
He glances around the corner to make sure the coast is clear, then strides over to an empty light socket. He can’t help himself. He’s always liked impressing her.
His thumb fits neatly into the socket, and there’s a small shower of sparks, the buzzing of a generator starting, and the lights in the string connected to his turn on.
“Your favorite parlor trick.”
She’s not amused, but he smiles anyway and gestures for her to go ahead. “This way, my lady.”
“You haven’t lost your touch. I’ll give you that,” Helen murmurs, and she goes where he directs her.
***
Two more agents are taken out with what, for Nikola, amounts to a gentle shove. He doesn’t kill them, out of deference to Helen, though he knows it won’t matter soon.
Helen relieves the men of their weapons as Nikola wipes his hand clean again, as though the Cabal leave a stain far worse than the dirt streaking his skin and clothes.
“C’mon,” she says. “There’s more where these came from.”
He grins at her, thrill of the chase fully on him. “This is fun, isn’t it?” He keeps facing her as he backs down the corridor. “Just like old times, back in London. When was that? Forty-two? Forty-three?”
“I prefer not to think about it.”
“Come on, Helen. Every major spy organization in the world was looking for me. I needed your help. And besides, what’s a faked death among friends?”
“Whose hare-brained notion was it to supply every Allied government with plans for your death-ray weapon?” She keeps her voice down, peering around a corner just before the green laser of the Cabal’s weaponry points in their direction.
“Well, I thought they’d all share and that peace would break out,” he whispers. “I did. I had my Nobel speech all memorized.”
The agents move on, and he can practically see the lightbulb go on in Helen’s mind as she turns to look at him. “How did you know the Cabal were after me?”
It’s possible, if he plays this right, that he may still work his way out of this. “I watch them, and they watch me. We’ve had a few entanglements over the years, but you know, I’ve never done anything so stupid as to actually steal from them.”
“I’ve had my contacts keeping an ear to the ground for any Cabal movement since they attacked my sanctuary. I would have known beforehand if they were going to make a move on me here.”
He smiles innocently, still giving nothing away.
“In fact,” she continues, “they didn’t show up until after you arrived. They’re not after me, are they? They want you.”
Always so brilliant, Helen.
He smiles fondly at her. “You haven’t lost your touch either,” he murmurs.
And there’s nothing for it but for them to continue on. Regardless of the Cabal’s motives, it would be hazardous for both of them if they were to be caught.
***
“You’ve always been reckless,” she whispers harshly at him as another group of agents just barely misses them. “Contacting me directly while the Cabal was following you.”
Yep. Just like old times.
“Oh, I know,” he confesses. “It wasn’t one of my best ideas, but hey, I had no choice. I needed to see you.”
“Then use the proper channels. Contact one of my facilities and have them arrange a secure location.”
“Would you rather have me endanger one of your sanctuaries or just you?”
“How about neither? Nikola, you dropped out of sight before the end of World War II, never to be seen or heard from again.”
It’s possible that it’s his own wishful thinking, but he could swear she sounds hurt by that.
“Well I did die a lonely, impoverished, pitiful old man. Thanks for the funeral, by the way. I heard it was quite nice.”
“I faked your death to save your life so that your work could continue. I think I’m owed an explanation as to your whereabouts since then.”
“Hey, perfecting the use of electricity and radio waves, hard acts to follow, okay? But I have kept busy.” She looks at him, intrigued. “At Oxford, all those years ago, what we did was more than just pushing boundaries. For me, it was personal.”
“As it was for all of us.”
He stops her. “You all changed,” he whispers fervently. “Whereas I found out who I really am. And the more I embrace that, the more I realize just how little I’ve accomplished.”
“Your gifts to the world will live on long after you die,” Helen is quick to assure him, as though he needs the assurance that he’s done something worthwhile. “Whenever you actually die.”
“You think you can call this existence living?” He’s tired. He’s tired of running and tired of hiding who and what he is. “The Cabal hunt me at every turn.”
“But why? You’ve been underground for decades. We both know the Cabal only go after what they perceive to be of value.”
He leans in with a conspiratorial smile. “Or a threat.”
And he continues on, trusting her to follow.
Of course, just because she follows, doesn’t mean she’s given up on the conversation.
“Why would the Cabal see you as a threat?”
“I’m a vampire,” he says simply. “Some people are threatened by that.”
“Only part, Nikola,” she says, like that’s something to take comfort in. “Pure-blood vampires were wiped out centuries ago.” He gives her a sideways look, wondering if now is the time to tell her. “Besides, you alone are not enough to make the Cabal this angry. What’s really going on?”
It’s so hard to lie to her directly. So he takes an abstract route. She has to understand his reasoning before she will accept what he’s done.
“The Ancient Ones, they were intelligent, gifted, powerful. Until a bunch of church folk decided that our race was impure, evil. And not only did they hunt them down, kill them off, but they turned our species into a cultural joke.”
“Ancient vampires were the Caesars, the Pharaohs of civilization,” she counters. “Humans were enslaved. They rose up with good reason. If the world knew the truth…”
He cuts her off. “Humans were conquered because we were smarter and stronger. And when vampires ruled the world, it was a golden age. Science, art, architecture, all advanced. And after they killed them off, what happened?”
“The Dark Ages.”
“And now people think that we’re allergic to garlic and can turn into bats at will. It’s beyond insulting.” He heads off again, whispering, “This way.”
***
He’s still on the subject several minutes later (because when he gets up on a soapbox, it’s difficult to get him back down sometimes).
“As though a vial of stale water blessed by some priest would have any other effect than a bad taste in my…” He hears the rumble before he feels it.
So does Helen. “Earthquake.”
“Worse,” he says, and without pausing to consider it, he pushes her behind the nearest stable structure, taking the full force of the blast himself.
***
Stake through the heart. Or near enough. His body ends up impaled on a broken beam protruding from the wall.
He comes to with a great gasp of air, and he just can’t help himself. “I vant to suck your blood,” he says in a passable imitation of Dracula.
Helen wipes the concern from her face immediately. “Get down from there.”
He pushes himself carefully off the beam and drops to the ground.
“Irony is, I once owned the patent to that weapon. I never should have sold it to Edison, cheapskate that he was,” he says, glancing down to inspect the already healing wound in his chest, catching some of the blood between his fingers.
“Do you think this is funny?” Helen asks. “Tricking me into helping you in whatever game you’re playing with the Cabal. I don’t appreciate being put in the line of fire.”
It isn’t a game though. And she needs to understand that, so he offers her a confession he’s been keeping to himself for over a century. “Helen,” he says, pulling out the handkerchief again to wipe his own blood from his hands.
She cuts him off this time. “You’ve always been like this, haven’t you? Selfish and arrogant. Putting your own desires before anyone else’s.”
“I brought you here for two reasons,” he says, continuing his confession. “Because only you can help me finish what I’m working on and because I love you.”
“Yes, so you keep…” He figures this is the point where her brain catches up to his words. “What?”
It’s not often anyone succeeds in putting a look of confusion on Helen Magnus’s face, and Nikola smiles at that. “I always have,” he says softly. “More than that lunatic Druitt ever did.”
He reaches for her, slowly, gently, and still she pulls away.
Always pulling away, Helen.
“I misled you,” he says, bringing his hand back. “And I deeply apologize for that, but I had to see you.”
She must know he’s being sincere. When has he ever apologized?
“You’re serious, aren’t you?”
He just smiles, but he’s certain the look he gives her says that yes, he’s very serious indeed.
Somehow, he’d hoped for a stronger reaction to those words.
“Back at Oxford,” he eventually says, wanting to explain something of what it had been about her that had first attracted him, “the others used the Source for power and for greed, but you…you altered yourself out of a pure desire for knowledge.” He can still see the determined look on her face, feel the way she’d gripped his hand as he injected her. “You’re the only scientist…perhaps the only person I’ve ever admired.”
He thinks she looks relieved when the green lasers of the Cabal team head in their direction, but she still takes his hand to lead him away with a soft, “Come on.”
***
The Cabal have them surrounded, and it’s only a matter of time before the two teams converge on their position.
“I…I feel so safe when I’m with you,” Nikola says, teasing, not bothering to keep his voice down.
“Quiet,” Helen whispers urgently.
He grins.
“We’re going to have to fight our way out of here. No killing,” she adds firmly.
“Said the woman with the gun to the vampire.”
“Just follow my lead.”
“It won’t be necessary,” he assures her. It’s time. They should be here by now. They may be stupid, but they’re punctual.
“I for one don’t intend to get captured or killed.”
“You won’t.” He would never let that happen.
“What do you mean?”
He pauses, and in that pause there comes the sound of screaming, gunshots, more screaming. He grins as he steps closer to her. “The playing field just got leveled.”
***
It’s several minutes before they come across the body, and Nikola hopes it isn’t too late.
“Oh my god,” she whispers, kneeling over the corpse. “What did this?”
“It’s not so much the what as the why that counts,” Nikola says, really smiling now, thrumming with anticipation to let her see his work in action.
“This is your project isn’t it? This is what you’ve been working on.”
“Tonight,” he says, really into it now, “you get to witness the rebirth of the greatest Abnormal that ever walked the earth.”
His mini-mes step from the shadows, and her first reaction is to pull her gun on them.
That’s all right. They should induce fear. At the moment, that’s about all they’re good for.
“My god, Nikola, what have you done?”
He smiles. “Welcome to the future.”
“What the hell are they?”
He steps forward, closer to his creations, his voice brimming with pride as he says, “Well. In a very basic sense, they’re me.”
“You found a way to revive the species.”
In answer, he pulls a knife from his pocket.
“The question,” he says, beginning a lecture of his own, “could I use my own,” he slices the blade across the palm of his hand, “altered DNA to turn a boring old Homo Sapiens,” he kneels over the body, squeezing the wound until blood flows from his hand into its mouth, “into a higher, more evolved species?”
One of the mini-mes hands him the device, and he gazes at it reverently. “And the answer is so simple,” he turns his gaze to Helen, “it will make you cry.” She gapes at him. “Watch.”
He stabs the device through the body’s protective vest and sends a current from his hand, through the device, into the corpse, his blood, his energy, both combining to imbue life.
It’s a heady feeling.
He grins up at Helen, breathless, expectant, as his new creation sits up, eyes black, testing its newly sharpened claws.
When she says nothing, he stands and regards the creature. “Well, thanks for joining the party,” he says. “Now, uh…go join the others.”
He can’t help that pleased smile as the creature immediately obeys.
“See, the cool thing about me using my own DNA to reanimate the dead is,” he chuckles, “they do whatever I say.”
Helen frowns, and he knows she’s spotted the problem too. “They’re practically mindless.”
“I know,” he says, stepping towards her again. “They’re fast, vicious, strong, but they’re as dumb as tree stumps.” He steps back in their direction as he points at them. “Which defeats the whole purpose of the project.”
“You want me to help you make them intelligent.”
Always quick, Helen.
“This is the culmination of everything we stood for as The Five.” It’s the epitome of his life’s work. This is what Helen saved his life for. This is the work he needed to continue. “Pushing boundaries, exploring realms of science that other people were afraid to.” She’s shaking her head, so he holds up a finger to cut her off. “Just imagine.” He turns back to his creatures. “Sanguine Vampiris,” he murmurs, hushed and reverent, and his creatures purr in response, “reborn.”
“They would only enslave us again.”
He spins to face her. “Well, I don’t think human beings are doing such a great job of it right now. Do you? Hm? You and I,” he says, fervently, breathily, “could usher in a new golden age of thought and culture and peace.”
Her response is not what he’d hoped for, but it is what he’d feared. “You’re mad, Nikola.”
From anyone else, just words. From Helen? Deepest wound.
“No!” he snaps, then takes a brief moment to get himself under control. “The Philadelphia Experiment was mad, but this,” he sweeps a hand back towards the creatures, “is progress.”
He steps towards them again, reigning in his anger. “We all know the Abnormals are on the rise. And now, we just need somebody to lead them.”
“You,” Helen guesses, and Nikola smiles because she still doesn’t get it.
“Us.” He turns to run a caressing hand down one of the creatures’ cheek. “You saw how my mini-mes handled those trackers tonight.” His excitement builds as he returns to Helen. “Now just imagine, an army of them. Huh. But massively intelligent! You and I could give the Cabal…”
Before he can finish, she fires. Three bullets, point blank. He falls back into the arms of his creations, and by the time he’s righted himself, she’s gone.
He looks down at his beyond ruined suit. “Ouch.”
Turning back to his creatures, he says calmly, “Get her.”
***
She had no chance of outrunning them, of course, but Nikola admires her for trying. He hears the click of her gun as she tries to fire with no bullets, and he rounds the corner just in time to stop his mini-me from killing her.
“Not yet,” he says. He’s allowed himself to change again. This confrontation will be more satisfying if Helen must see him as he truly is.
“Not yet,” he says again, and he’s gratified by the fear in Helen’s eyes that only slightly subsides when he adds, “Back off.”
They do of course, and he gives a disappointed sigh. “Helen. Nice shooting.”
“I thought you loved me,” Helen says, and Nikola can’t remember why he should care about that.
“Did I? I don’t think it’s gonna work out.”
“Well then,” she says, stepping towards him, and he has to admire her courage, even now. “I guess I can tell you that at Oxford? No one liked you.”
“Aw…was it because I was a genius?”
“No,” she says, right in his face now. “Because you were an obnoxious ass.”
He chuckles. As though such a thing could possibly matter to him now. “Well, guess who’s still standing.”
And then there’s pain. Pain unlike any he’s felt before. (Not greater, just…different.) He looks down, and against all odds there is a fist protruding from his stomach, and Helen gasps a shocked, “John!”
And Druitt is saying, “Hello, Nikola,” right in his ear, and the fist is removed and then…
And then nothing.
[ooc: All dialogue is from the Sanctuary episode "The Five".]